“He’s in a nursing home in Palestine. He’s got severe arthritis. Made his work just too hard. When he first realized what was happening to him, he signed over the whole business to Shane. That boy has expanded it from a junkyard into a body shop. He’s real good at what he does,” Vicky told her.
Jancy finished off her coffee and gathered up all the dirty dishes to take to the dishwasher. “Sign out at the edge of town still says there’s three hundred and six people. They didn’t change it when the three of us left, did they?”
“No, didn’t add to it when y’all came to take care of Granny Wilson, either.” Vicky put the cover back on the cake. “Nothing new in six years. Still got the feed store, post office, two churches, and the diner on this end of the highway through town. Shane’s business is up north of us, along with the volunteer fire station. South is Leonard’s convenience store and gas station combined. We keep hoping a business or two will go in the empty buildings between us and the convenience store, but nothing has happened yet.”
“You forgot the bank,” Nettie said.
“Yes, I did.” Vicky nodded. “It’s a branch bank from the one in Frankston. Set up in one of them portable buildings, but it’s got an ATM and everything that a big bank has. Where were you last night, Jancy?”
That was an abrupt change of subject, but then they deserved a few answers.
“Roadside rest stop up on the interstate.” She leaned on the counter separating the kitchen from the kitchen nook. The house was a whole lot bigger than the trailers where she and her parents had lived in most of the towns her dad thought looked interesting. She’d usually had a tiny little room on one end that wasn’t much bigger than a closet. The twin-size bed occupied most of the space, but she hadn’t spent much time in any of the rooms, so it didn’t matter. If she wasn’t in school, she was at whatever job she could find, and her paycheck went to keep groceries in the place.
“You slept in your car?” Nettie gasped.
“A few nights. I lost my job a couple of weeks ago. The rent was due, so I had to move out of the apartment. I thought I could pick up another one, but when my money was almost gone, I figured I’d better head out toward Louisiana. I have a cousin there who told me I was welcome at her place.”
“But in your car? That’s dangerous,” Vicky said.
“It wasn’t so bad. We did it pretty often when we’d move into a town where my dad had to save up paychecks until he could rent a place. Few times he made a deal with a run-down motel. If Mama and I cleaned for them, they’d give us a couple of rooms. It was the way it was. Other than Pick for those two years, I usually went to three or four schools a year. Mama was determined I’d get my diploma. Daddy was just as determined that I’d earn my keep.”
A vision of her mother flashed through her mind. Elaine hadn’t even been forty when she died, and she’d looked sixty. Jancy glanced over at Vicky. How could she be forty years old? They’d probably ID her at a club before they’d serve her a beer. Had Emily held on to her beauty the past six years? She’d sure never looked like her mother. Folks said that she took after her maternal grandmother with all that height, those big blue eyes and blonde hair. Vicky wasn’t a bit taller than Jancy, had jet-black hair and brown eyes.
“Well, tonight you’ll have your choice of a nice long bath or shower and a decent bed to sleep in,” Nettie said. “Towels are in the linen closet right outside the bathroom door.”
“Thank you”—Jancy smiled—“for everything. I’ve got a question for you before I go sink into a tub of water. What on earth kept y’all in Pick all these years?”
“It’s home,” Nettie said simply. “Now I’m going to bed. See y’all at six tomorrow mornin’ when we open up for breakfast. Vicky and I usually walk to the diner together. If you want to go with us, we leave at five thirty. It’s fine if you want to sleep until the last minute, too.”
“I’ll be ready at five thirty,” Jancy said.
Vicky yawned and pushed back her chair. “I’ve got some book work to do, so I’m going to my room. Help yourself to more coffee or there’s milk in the fridge. We don’t keep much soda pop in the house.”
Jancy wiped down the table and then went to her new bedroom, gathered up her things, and carried them to the bathroom. She filled the old claw-foot tub half-full of water and then sank down into the warm water and sighed. Dunking completely under the water to get her hair wet and then resurfacing, she felt as if she’d been baptized. She was leaving the old behind, and of all the crazy places in the world to land, it felt good to be back in Pick.